A.G. Richardson

By Rhonda Simmons

Published: August 22, 2008

Archie G. Richardson was the highest-ranking African-American in state government in 1936, according to Virginia State University historians. That year, he was appointed an assistant for Negro Education in Virginia. He was also the first African-American selected to the Virginia Department of Education.

Seventy-plus years later, his name lives on in Culpeper: The former “colored” school that opened in 1936 as Culpeper Training School on Old Rixeyville Road (top photo) was renamed A.G. Richardson Elementary in 1952. By 1992, the school had moved across town to its existing location on Simms Drive near the intersection of U.S. 29 and U.S. 15 (below).

Richardson, a native of Lexington who served as principal of the Mecklenburg County Training School in South Hill, retired as associate director of the Division of Secondary Education in Virginia in 1969. Today, the school that bears his name serves nearly 700 students. Sue Bridges has been principal at A.G. since 2001.